Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 154: Shocking disputes over the reconstruction of the temple

The statesmen of Thurii were surprised after hearing the ambition of Davos for the first time.

Burkes stared at Davos, who was talking and laughing in the circle. He remembered the time when he had worked so hard to invite him to Magna Graecia because he was a capable mercenary leader. However, he did not expect that this young man had such a great ambition, he not only saved Thurii, but also changed the political situation in Magna Graecia! Because according to Davos, the assembly hall of 600 people means that many city-states will be merge into the union!

The other statesmen of Thurii where discussing it with each other in a low voice, and some even asked, “Who is Vespa?”

They were either suspicious or excited, but most of them did not raise any objection. After all, with the help of Amendolara that was led by Davos, they and Thurii were lucky to be reborn. Before they become familiar with the young Archon, they would not rashly object him.

Only Bolus said something about it, “There must be a limit to the number of statesmen, as it is impossible to expand it indefinitely.”

“600! Because the new assembly hall can only hold 600 people! But I believe that the situation of our union will be very different once the establishment is full. At that time, there might come a new bill and a new assembly hall!” Said Davos without hesitation.

The self-confidence of Davos made Bolus envious. He could not restrain himself from saying, “Unfortunately, I am afraid that I won't be able to see that day.”

When he said this, everyone's expression changed.

Davos looked at him and said lightly, “Lord Bolus, I believe that you will be able to see it!”

In an instant, Bolus felt his back soaked with cold sweat. Although Davos did not scold him, he still felt an invisible pressure, and so, he kept his head down and kept quiet.

“Milord Archon, the Senate is a life-long tenure. So how can the citizens of this union become statesmen?” Kunogelata changed the topic in this way.

“Although your question has nothing to do with the question of ‘whether to build the senate assembly hall or not’, but it doesn't matter, I would like to tell you about my opinion.” Davos withdrew his gaze, organized his words, then said slowly, “Our public officials are currently elected once a year, but I don't think that this is appropriate. For example, once Amintas is elected as the Aedile-”

Amintas immediately exlaimed, “Milord, I am not interested in architecture at all!”

Everyone laughed.

“I know, this is just an example.” Davos also laughed, “Amintas doesn't know anything about architecture, but in this position, he would need to serve the public, and so he has to put his energy into understanding and learning his work as an aedile. When he finally mastered the knowledge of architecture and understand the needs of various parts of the union's project, his tenure is finally approaching its end. In this year, he has hardly done any effective work, but if he was given another year, his work will certainly be much better than that of his first year, because he has basically understood the whole construction situation of the union and the needs of each city-states. So in the third year, his work efficiency will be even higher, because he has already became fully familiar with it. So he would be able to apply for funds from the Senate, direct the builders, craftsmen, laborers and slaves to build large-scale buildings and maintain public facilities. Moreover, he will finally be able to get some achievements, right?”

Everyone nodded.

Amintas then yelled, “Yes!!”

And another burst of laugher rang out.

“Therefore, it is a waste of time and inefficient to elect a civil servant once a year. This should be changed, but the specific tenure of each public position needs to be discussed later. Now back to the question of Kunogelata….” Facing the crowd, Davos said with seriousness, “Under the law that we are going to issue, every citizens has the right to become a civil servant. In my opinion, a citizen who has just reached age of 18 and wants to become a statesman of the Senate, will need to. Firstly, he would need to held at least three kinds of low-ranking public positions for five years, such as patrolman, fireman, census writer, and so on. At the same time, he must join the army and fight, and must have participated in more than two major battles before he can apply to the Senate and ask for a higher position.”

By this time, he would have rich experience working at the bottom, and be physically strong and familiar with war and he should be about 30 years old. According to his performance, ability and specialty, the Senate can decide whether to let him serve as a city defense captain, a fire brigade chief, a census officer, an aedile, a commercial officer, a financial officer, or an inspector.

Then he must held two or more intermediate public positions, or served as a senior centurion or even as a centurion for three years. By this time, he should have reached the age of 40, and he will become more stable, and familiar with the political affairs and also be able to handle more complex situations, and can also lead the troops to war.

Then at this point, he can finally apply to join the Senate. The Senate will then decide whether he can become a statesmen according to his performance. But the Praetor of a city-states can only be held by a statesmen of the Senate. I wonder if you approve of my idea?”

“Agree! Agree! Young men should exercise more!” Exclaimed the statesmen.

‘For at least 20 years, we won't have to worry!’ This is the thoughts of a few ordinary people.

The statesmen elected in this way will definitely be an outstanding elite among the citizens, and the fact that a fool like Nianses becoming a polemarchos will never appear again in the union! Kunogelata gave his full approval from the bottom of his heart.

‘It seems that we would need to take up more public position and accumulate administrative experience in order to avoid being looked down upon by the young people in the future!’ This are the thoughts of the hard-working people like Hielos.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The vast majority of the statesmen agreed with the idea of Davos, because whether it is to extend the length of public service or serve as the city-states' praetor, makes the interest of the current statesmen more protected, but some people have raised objections.

“There are only a few public position in the union. So if we extend the tenure, I am afraid that many people will not be able to serve.” Said Ansitanos with concern.

“For now, there are only these many positions, but in the future, it might be possible for someone to go to a city hundreds of kilo-meters away to take his post. At that time, every city would probably need low-level census officers, low-level financial officers and other low-level officials, and then be under the control of the senior census officers, senior financial officers and other senior officials under the Senate. So we need to also establish a committee in the Senate to supervise, manage and evaluate the performance of these public officials.”

The ambition contained in the words of Davos had made some people feel excited and some to be skeptical. But on the whole, everyone was very happy because the establishment of a new committee would give many idle statesmen something to do, and their power will also not be small.

Only Mersis was worried, “If there will be so many public officials in the future, then how much should their salaries be?!”

And another burst of laughter rang out.

Davos had to say, “We will talk about their salary later.”

The resolution of “building a Senate Assembly Hall of 600 people” was passed. Next, is to discuss the construction of temples.

There wasn't any need to discuss the issue of constructing the temples, because according to reasons, they can just build the new temples directly on the location of the old temple. The statesmen did not have much objection to this, and so, the resolution was about to pass smoothly. But suddenly, Plesinas stood up and spoke out loud, “I am against rebuilding the temple of Apollo!”

Everyone was taken aback.

Plesinas was very satisfied with the result of his words. Then he took a look at Davos, while completely ignoring the astonished expression of everyone else, and continued to say in a loud voice, “Because our devotion to Apollo have not gotten us the protection of the sun god! The betrayal of the freeman, the occupation of Thurii, and the whole city were mourning, but Apollo have turned a blind eye to it, and the gods cannot stand by idly and watch his inaction, and so, his temple has suffered a disaster and turned his flames into ashes!”

It seems that Plesinas have blamed Apollo for the destruction of the city of Thurii, which seemed to be blasphemous. However, as the protector of Thurii, Apollo did not even protect his temple. This have indeed made the statesmen who believed in him to feel odd, and after being “reminded” by Plesinas, ‘Did Apollo abandon Thurii?’

Davos looked at Plesinas with interest.

“Who…who saved the citizens of Thurii and avenged Thurii?! It is beyond doubt that it was the citizens of Amendolara! But which god is supporting the army of Amendolara?! Look at the flag that is held high by the brave citizen soldiers. Isn't it Hades who waved his bident to bring death to the Crotonians?! It was Hades who have blessed the mercenaries in the hot spring swamp, and have made the god of death blow the wind of the underworld and easily took the lives of 8,000 Lucanians! Now that Thurii have reborn from its ruins, and Amendolara and Thurii have become one. Then, Hades, as the patron god of the army of Amendolara, and is also the one who have saved Thurii twice be our patron. This is the reason why Apollo yielded, and so, we should not forget the blessing and protection of Hades! Therefore, the new temple of Thurii should be the temple of Hades, in order to protect the long-lasting peace and tranquility of Thurii!”

When Plesinas finished his speech, the statesmen went into an uproar.

Kunogelata turned to look at Davos, and found that Davos was also surprised. ‘Could it be that this is Plesinas' own thoughts?’

“Plesinas, you should know that Apollo is the main god worshipped in the city-states of Magna Graecia(the other one is Hera). It is because of his blessings that have allowed our ancestors to smoothly arrive here in Magna Graecia, and to successfully build the city-states. Apollo is very important to the people of Thurii!” Reminded Ansitanos.

“Of course I know it. The citizens can still build an altar of Apollo and continue to worship him, but as the protector of the city-states, his inaction has ended his mission! We need a new and powerful protector that is more willing to protect us, and to maintain the peace of Thurii in this troubled time! So we should build the temple of Hades in our Acropolis!” Said Plesinas proudly.

“From what I remember, there is hardly any temple of Hades in Greece, let alone being a patron god of a city-state. Why? Because the kingdom of Hades is dark and terrifying, which made the people afraid of him! I am afraid that no one wants to go to the Acropolis after the temple of Hades is built! Not to mention getting laughed at by the other city-states!” Bolus stood up and objected.